


A Son Full of Goodness

by GwenTheTribble



Category: The Young Pope (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-27 20:01:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12088326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GwenTheTribble/pseuds/GwenTheTribble
Summary: On Tuesday evening he heard a rumor that the Holy Father was thinking of expelling homosexuals from the church.  On Wednesday morning he confessed to an affair with a woman. That afternoon, he went for a walk with the Holy Father, and they told each other stories.





	A Son Full of Goodness

Bernardo wrote his holiness once a week while he was in Queens.  The letters were always blank, except for the very bottom where he signed his name.  

He drank, he walked, he slept, he drank, he walked.

There are things you will do for your church.  There are things you will do for love.  They are not always the same, Bernardo knows, but they have always been the same for him.  Mostly, he  kept quiet for the church, for love.  

Where do May afternoons land? Not in Queens, but she would continue to protect the boy who had become a man.  

The quiet child of three, it was easy to see how he got lost in the fray, how evil had found him.  

Bernardo could not resent anyone, even when he wanted to.  

He had one brother, older.  He had one sister, younger.  He had four uncles and seven aunts.  He had twenty seven cousins.  He was the quietest child, and they provided plenty of opportunities to observe. 

“If you can do right in this world, you ought to do it,” his Mama had said, when he told them he had heard the call.  

In a large family, rumors spread quickly, often arriving before the event itself.  Beds were to be shared. The only way to ensure a secret was kept was to hold it deep within yourself. 

On Tuesday evening he heard a rumor that the Holy Father was thinking of expelling homosexuals from the church.  On Wednesday morning he confessed to an affair with a woman.  Wednesday afternoon, he went for a walk with the Holy Father, and they told each other stories.

It had been a game they played as children, stealing sips of wine from grown ups glasses while they weren't looking. 

“The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, but they are all God.  There is only one God, Bernardo.”  His Father had explained once.  “Great things come in threes.  God comes in three.”  It had stayed with him all his life.  He saw threes everywhere.  

“Have some,” the young man had called, and pressed a glass to his twenty year old hands.  He had never tasted hard liquor before. 

He sent his holiness a blank letter every week, to tell him off his progress.  He never wrote anything but his name, but still, even when the days blurred together, he sent them faithfully to the saint who trusted him blindly.  

Sometimes, when he was so drunk he felt as though he might die, he knew he should resent his holiness.  For sending him there.  For barring homosexuals from the church.  For any number of things, really.  Despite people liking him, the Holy Father was not a very likeable man.  Even still, Bernardo thought of him all the time.  Even still, Bernardo liked him very much.   Once a week he would carefully write his signature on paper and then carefully address the envelope, putting postage on it and then walked down to the mailbox.  Dozens of letters sent and never written.  

He had been the middle child of three, shy and quiet where his siblings were loud and brash.  It had taught him how to watch, to keep secrets, to make himself known.  

At the hotel, he had requested a twin bed, and they only had rooms with three twin beds.  He drank, and drank, and thought  _ God comes in three _ .  He was not sure what part of the trinity he was, but there at his most powerless, he knew he was not the Father.  

At the airport, finally going home, there were newspapers about Kurtwell, and he bought one, but the one he actually read was about a saint’s love letters. 

Dozens of letters written and never sent.


End file.
